Over the last 6 years, since the Paris Climate Accord, the worlds 60 biggest banks have poured over $4,600,000,000,000 into fossil fuel projects. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That’s $4.6 TRILLION dollars being used for more oil rigs, more gas fields, and more coal mines. It’s a disgraceful truth. And the banks hold a huge chunk of responsibility for the climate crisis that is destroying people and habitats around the world.
The banks don’t do the dirty work themselves. They pay other groups to do it. All their money is going to fossil fuel companies like Exxon, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Chevron – companies who are not only destroying the planet, but are sowing doubt around the world to pretend they’re not to blame. Here’s the thing: Fossil fuel companies need banks. Behind every fossil fuel company, there are banks funding them. So if you cut off the money taps coming from the banks, you stop the fossil fuel companies operating. And it’s easy for banks to do. Banks invest in tonnes of things, fossil fuels are actually a small part of that. All this means that fossil fuels need banks, but banks don’t need fossil fuels.
Yet, banks are still continuing to fund the worst fossil fuel companies in the world. Here are the Dirty Dozen banks:
The top four are all American banking giants, with Canadian, European and Japanese banks too. Here are Europe’s worst:
And here are the worst in Asia:
The science couldn’t be clearer. The IEA is saying that to keep to 1.5C of warming, there can be no new fossil fuel extraction. But these banks are ploughing money into existing AND NEW projects. Through promises and advertising, the banks are pretending they care and that they’re changing. But they’re showing that they only care about profits.
Fossil fuels are to blame for war, a cost of living scandal and a less predictable world. There’s never been a more important time to regulate the banks, and accelerate a global transition away from fossil fuels to reliable, green energy immediately.
See all the data and read the full report here: https://www.bankingonclimatechaos.org/